Pete and I are now preparing to embark on a short, two-three day pack trip. We are a few miles outside of Driggs, Idaho – the horses are in a corral on forest service land. We are sitting in the truck waiting for a late afternoon storm to pass.

It’s raining. We came across this side-of-the-road camping area at 4 p.m. and wisely decided to head to the Coyote Meadows trailhead in the morning. We will do a three-day ride.

This morning, as we were sorting gear, it felt like we’d sort of come full circle. Our trip began with a pack trip and is now resuming with another. We might have done this sooner, but both Pete and I

needed time to gather up the post-accident pieces. We’ve spent considerable time with horse people, all of whom assisted us in coming to grips with what happened.

It’s now time to move on, and resume horse trekking. This, after all, is what we originally set out to do. Yes, this time around, things now are a bit different. We now are going out with two horses instead of three. And we are going with far less gear. We aren’t using the pack saddle. Rather, we are using saddle bags.

In looking at all our pack gear, I would have said that we needed every single item we had on hand. This included all our clothes, cooking gear, and the like. But now that we have pared down, I realize that we could have started with less stuff. For instance, I need just one raincoat. Previously, I carried a raincoat and a windbreaker. I also didn’t need to be carrying four books. And we didn’t need two tubes of toothpaste between us. One will do.

If we are successful in this venture, we may do more. I am actually a bit nervous about going with less stuff. I don’t know why this is. I have traveled by bicycle and gone further with less. We shall see how it goes.

Next: 161: 8/26/13, Driggs Idaho Rodeo Grounds